If you are aiming to lose weight or attain a higher level of fitness, heart rate monitor is a great way to monitor the intensity of the workout as well as to stay within the optimum heart rate zone. The effectiveness of a workout regime, is not only determined by the time frame, but is also affected by the intensity of the workout or how well the heart is getting pumped.

Types of heart rate monitors available

The most traditional heart rate monitors are in the form of chest straps. These monitors are worn around the chest, which is connected to a receiver that is usually worn as a watch. In some high tech devices these monitors can even be synced with a device that remains hooked to the tennis shoes.

Certain monitors only have the watch part of the device, where there will be no discomfort of the chest strap. These monitors trace the pulse on the wrist through the LED based sensors below the watch.

Tips to choose the best heart rate monitor

Easy to use: Most of the HRM models are quite complicated to use. Most of the times it will take days for you to figure out the whole functioning of your HRM, unless you are a genius. Thus, make sure to buy something which is user friendly.

Easily visible heart rate readings: Often the HRM models make the readings very difficult to find. Even if you are getting the reading easily, they are usually very small and thus, you might find them hard to read. So, opt for the monitors, where the readings are clearly visible.

Good heart rate zone functionality: Apart from seeing your heart rate, the most important feature that you should look for is setting the heart rate target zone. You should be able to easily set the monitor, so that, if your heart rate goes down below or above a certain level, you will receive an alert. However, if you are also looking for features like tracking workouts and runs, then you will have to look for the advanced watches, which are usually more expensive.

Accurate reading: The monitors, which are without chest straps, often fail to give accurate heart rate readings. The heart rate monitors with the chest straps are the most accurate ones. These chest straps can work seamlessly with most cardio equipments and pick up the heart rate perfectly. There are certain monitors, which pick up signals from other HRMs and thus the readings become inaccurate. However, the expensive ones use a coded transmission to fix this issue.

Responsive: Some of the monitors have massive delays in delivering the exact readings. For example, when a person starts to run, it might show the reading as 120 bpm and once he starts running, it might straight away jump to 180 bpm. An ideal monitor should track your heart rate continuously, so that, there is no such massive ups and downs.

Apart from that, you should also check the comfort, battery life and the price of your heart rate monitor. A wise investment can really prove to be beneficial for years to come.